Julie’s Story: From Jehovah’s Witness to Preterist

So much can be learned from each other when we have the courage to share our stories. Here is Julie’s story about coming out of a Jehovah’s Witness background into a Fulfilled or Preterist view.

Julie McAllen says:

Under my previous religion, our message was not the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our message was “the Kingdom”. The kingdom was the gospel and we were fulfilling the preaching campaign foretold by Jesus at Matthew 24:14. I regularly went door-to-door asking people what “the Kingdom” for which they prayed in the Lord’s prayer meant to them. Seldom could anyone give me an answer. And neither did they tell me their testimony of what the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ meant to them personally. The most I got out of “Christians” on the other side of the door was the address of their church and bake sale they had there. It continued to feed my conviction that I had the truth and my religion was the only true dispenser of it, for I knew the gospel, they didn’t. I was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

I …became disillusioned with my religion and wondered if we really had the right message. Endeavoring to read the Bible sans Watchtower [the Jehovah’s Witness publication], I filled pages with verses trying to answer the question myself, “What is the good news of the Kingdom?” At the time, the addictive quality of mind control brought me right back to the vomit of the cult as I determined that the kingdom was a heavenly government comprised of 144,000 individuals, a remnant of which existed in the Watchtower organization… but the latter part was where the doubt crept in. How did I know the remnant was really just in THAT religion?

More discouragement and finally I broke away from the constant inculcating of their teachings. It took a few years of detox at home (praying, reading my Bible) before I came to the conclusion that the good news was the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that did not come as a result of some denomination’s indoctrination for I was still under the Watchtower-instilled paranoia of going to another church. I simply read my Bible and I came to the simple truth that Jesus died for my sins. I believed in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and I began to share that as good news with others trying to escape the Watchtower demons in their head. Paul states clearly in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 that it is the gospel by which we are saved. And I can testify that my faith in that saved — DELIVERED ME — from the condemnation I experienced when the religion who claimed to represent God had tossed me out of their kingdom. The gospel saved me and I believed I had entered a ew Kingdomhaving been taken out of darkness and born from above. I became “the church”and was now enabled and eager to fellowship at an actual church too.

I got comfortable visiting churches and the language we toss around about being “saved” and “born again”…

Then a funny thing happened just as I was starting to get comfortable in mainstream Christianity. I was reading my Bible one day when I noticed the writer of Hebrews thought HE was in the LAST DAYS. And I noticed Peter got so carried away at Pentecost that PETER THOUGHT HE WAS IN THE LAST DAYS also.I determined that the ‘last days’ BEGAN IN THE FIRST CENTURY and [so I thought then] we were still in them.

I was visiting non-denominational churches at the time and didn’t even know terms such as Amillennialism or Preterism…I was a bit shy about bringing up this nutty idea of a “first century last days” among my new aquaintances. It felt nice to fit in for a while…and let the Holy Spirit be my teacher, not any religion.

The Holy Spirit taught me how to worship and open my mind to the Scriptures without fear of reprimand from elders… for I didn’t have any now! The idea of the kingdom became more pronounced that I was LIVING IN IT. I was in a spiritual kingdom every day!

When I slipped and commented on some of my ideas about the last days beginning in the first century, a woman… accused me of “Preterism” and sent me a magazine called “Israel My Glory” along with some articles by authors against this “heresy” I was evidently falling into. I immediately recognized her error…pushing the Kingdom to a future hope.

I was moving in prayer power by this time because… I tasted the power of the present Kingdom and the spiritual dominion I had been granted. To say Jesus had not been enthroned yet and wait for Him to show up in Jerusalem was a step back into insanity!..I sure wasn’t about to go back. The blessings I received in prayer coming before a living, reigning king could not be substituted with a carrot dangling in front of me about some future return. After reading the material she sent to ‘straighten me out’, I was only too happy to learn there were others like me! And now I had a name to Google… P-R-E-T-E-R-I-S-M.

Ahhh….yes, validation. We ARE in the present kingdom! This IS the new earth! That is the Good News which the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ brought forth. It is a spiritualKingdom! And those invited into it must be born of His Spirit, therefore, it was necessary for Him to die and ascend to heaven to pour it out. Yes, the gospel of the Kingdom INCLUDES the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for it brings out the power of this Kingdom! And it IS good news to me! But once again, I find myself at odds with institutional religion and hesitant to share my new beliefs.

After being shunned by my former friends at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses for believing the good news of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I’m not super thrilled about the ‘heretic’ label that awaits me among institutional Christians with their hearts set on the soon return of Jesus Christ to set up His earthly kingdom. Sigh.

I find the message very confusing when Christians talk about ‘victory’ yet still ‘wait’ for their king and kingdom to arrive. If Jesus has not taken all authority yet, then there is no power in his kingdom. What power is there in prayer for those without a king or kingdom? …

I feel very privileged to have been kicked out of my former religion and taught by the Spirit. I intend to not let a religion dictate my beliefs again.

I like being part of a faith community once again and would love to plug in there more, but I hold back as if I will be disfellowshipped there too… for the Gospel of the Kingdom now that I’m a Preterist. I’ve gotten the ‘heretic’ label already and I think I am ready to wear it again if it should come. I know without a doubt that I love my Lord more than approval from any fellow believer, regardless of their eschatology. But I am human, and as such, a social creature meant to fellowship. What a shame that religion often makes Christian fellowship so difficult!

So what is the gospel really? Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so…. and keep yourself in God’s love.

7 Responses to Julie’s Story: From Jehovah’s Witness to Preterist

Thanks for sharing your story Julie. I became a full prederist about a year ago after being a partial for several years. Makes total sense to me now. Stuck my neck out a few days ago while having a few christian friends over and reluctantly shared my views on the end times. Caused quite a stir and my christian friends behaved quite rudely toward me and my wife. I just told them I expected that and that it’s quite a shock to here that stuff for the first time and didn’t really blame them, although there is no real excuse to behave rudely anytime. And of course, as expected, they thought I was getting in to a cult. Funny because I believe everything they do about the end times, just believe a very different time for it. It did upset my wife though and when I asked the Lord what I may have done wrong, He clearly told me I should have simply stopped everything at the beginning of the discussion and prayed. What a novel idea…duh! I do believe this truth needs to be told…in love and in the power of the Spirit. Although I do think it’s such a shocking thing for most Christians to hear, they absolutely will not be able to receive it. But I think the shock of it will also help to get it out there because it will make them talk about it with one another, even in a “can you believe what Jim said” kind of a way, it will be talked about and eventually become more popular and eventually received and believed. It will probably take at least a generation, but it has to happen.
Jim

I also am an ex-JW. I was baptized in that religion in 1973. I have been out for about 17 years. I had many questions about the Bible and was always told to leave it to Jehovah and just believe that the Society has it right and to never question their authority. Since being out, I could never really accept mainstream religion. I did, however, join a wonderful Christian Church for the fellowship and Bible reading, but still was unsettled about statements made by Jesus and the Apostles. Those statements didn’t seem to add up to what the Christian, or any, church was teaching. I thought there had to be more than what was being taught. I would cry and ask God to please help me to know truth. It took 17 years to find there are others like me. I happened to find websites dedicated to this teaching of “preterism”. I had never heard of it before. Soon I was learning all kinds of wonderful things that finally made sense. Like you, I hold back from telling too many people about my new beliefs for fear of ‘shunning’. I need to be bold and speak out in faith. Your story is encouraging. Thank you for sharing it.

Thanks for your story, Julie. I’ve faced similar issues with “Christendom’s” churches, in that I’m watching another group stick to outdated ideas and also be ready to die for them, even if they are as meaningless as a belief in 1914’s ‘end of the Gentile times’. When Paul instructs us to ‘not forsake the gathering of ourselves together’ I can’t help but feel that all that’s left for us who genuinely rely on the Holy Spirit for instruction are support groups that get us past our previous religion’s lunacy. Thanks again for taking the time to relay your revelation and insights.

I’m a former JW as well and am somewhere between a partial and partial preterism. I think there is still we don’t know because we have partial knowledge and see through a hazy mirror, so I try not to be too dogmatic about it. I attend a church that believes in freedom in non-essentials. People have many theological viewpoints and people don’t make an issue of them.

I’m with you, Julie. 100%. My wife is still a devout Jehovah’s Witness. I don’t hold out much hope of her ever seeing the REAL truth. We have been married for over 28 years. Most of that time I was enslaved to the Watchtower and didn’t even know it. She still doesn’t know it. God bless. I’ll see you soon in the heavenly kingdom of God.

Hi Julie. I to am an ex-JW. I’ve been disassociated now, by choice, since 1999. I to have found myself a full preterist. I’ve even written a book called ‘We are the Nation’s’. It didn’t get any circulation with the exception of my personal distribution of about 400 books in my community. The research I’ve done has truly enlightened me. Thanks for sharing your story.

I'm Riley. I write about family life, justice, theology and natural health. I love documentaries, green smoothies, travel, babies and good conversation.
In the few moments that I have to write and create amidst my busy life, I hope to contend for justice and truth, healing and peace-making.
I'm a mama to four, a Theologian-in-Residence at Solomon's Porch in Mpls. I studied art history at Wheaton College, Christian theology at Princeton Seminary, education at Princeton University and international human rights at Harvard University.